Bush is NOT an environmentalist; he IS part owner of a timber company

This was another great debate tonight. Bush didn't look as incompetent as he did in the first debate (that would be hard to repeat!) Nonetheless, he continued to lie. I don't remember the exact phrase he used, but Bush basically called himself a steward of the environment! Whoa! I don't have the stamina to list all the harm that Bush has done to the environment (in less than a single term, mind you), but you can read a detailed, chronological account at this page at the Natural Resources Defense Council site. Grab a pot of coffee, 'cause you're going to be reading for a while.

When talking about taxes, John Kerry mentioned that Bush would have been considered a small business owner due to his partial ownership of a timber company. Bush acted like that was something Kerry made up. Bush walked around for a moment, then asked Charles Gibson (with that trademark Dubya smirk) if Gibson wanted to buy some lumber. Well, the fact is that the income tax return of George W Bush for tax year 2001 shows $84 of income from partial ownership of a timber company. This was less than .01% of his income, but due to the manner in which it was reported, Bush qualified as a small business owner. He still reported income from the timber company the past 2 years as well, but on the 2002 and 2003 returns it was reported as "royalties" and listed on a different schedule. So Bush would not be considered a small business owner today - at least not due to the timber company. But he has owned a stake in the company for at least the past 3 years. Looks like deliberate misleading to me.

THIS is the critical point here: the Bush campaign inflates the number of small business owners who would be impacted by Kerry's rollback of the tax breaks for the wealthy. The Bush camp counts as a small business owner anyone who makes one dollar or more, as reported on Schedule C. There are other ways to qualify as well. So Bush made 0.01% (or less) of his income from the timber outfit. But because he did make over $200,000, he would be affected by the repeal of the wealthy persons' tax cut. So...by the twisted reasoning of Bush, et al, folks like Bush (Cheney also qualifies as a small business owner) are counted among the small business owners who would be affected, exaggerating the affect of repealing the tax cut, and thus - once again - deliberately misleading the public.

More misleading. More dishonesty from the lying liars. Check for yourself in this posting on Factcheck.